In known winding machines, a winding material is continuously fed from a supply station. For example, the supply station is part of a production line continuously producing the winding material. At the winding machine, the winding material is wound onto a spindle (with or without the use of an intermediate sleeve) such that a wound package is formed. After completion of the winding, it is possible to remove the completely wound package from the winding machine, to transport the wound package and to use the material of the wound package in subsequent processing. The spindle might be driven for effecting the winding motion. Alternatively, the rotational movement of the wound package might be effected by a frictional drive, in particular by a driving roller that is radially pressed at an outer surface of the wound package. During the winding process, the winding material is moved in lateral direction and parallel to the spindle by a traversing device. The traversing device is located in a feeding path of the winding material in a close distance in front of or upstream from the wound package. The rotational and traversing motion are controlled by a control unit such that during the winding process a three dimensional wound package with increasing diameter is formed.
In known winding machines, two or multiple wound packages might be provided, wherein the spindles are transferred in an alternating fashion into a working position wherein the packages are wound. For the winding process of the wound packages, a common traversing device might be provided for both spindles. When in the working position a predetermined amount of the winding material has been wound on the spindle, the spindle is transferred from the working position into a resting position. The continuously fed winding material is then supplied to the other spindle presently set in the working position or to a sleeve supported by the other spindle, respectively. The transfer of the winding material to the other spindle might be performed automatically or might be controlled by an operator. In the resting position, it is possible to manually or automatically remove the completely wound package from the spindle. For transferring the spindles from the working position into the resting position, the spindles are usually rotatably supported by a rotary plate or a turret, wherein the rotational axis of the spindles and of the turret have a parallel orientation. The positions of the spindles are alternately changed by rotation of the rotary plate.
German patent no. DE 102 23 484 B4 relates to the transfer process for the transfer of the winding material from the first to the second spindle. According to the German patent, in advance of the “real” winding process, a fixation winding, a transfer winding or a spare winding is wound outside the fanning width. If the traversing device comprises a reversing screw shaft, it is not possible to move the traversing guide of the traversing device outside the fanning width without taking additional complex measures regarding the design of the groove of the traverse cam. According to the German patent, the traversing device is shifted by a shifting device parallel to the longitudinal and rotational axis of the spindles such that it is possible to feed the winding material to the spindle or sleeve outside the fanning width. The shifting device is a pneumatically actuated piston/cylinder unit which is at any time actuated pneumatically via a valve and an associated control unit. Prior to the removal of the completely wound package from the winding machine, the completely wound package is positioned in the resting position and the empty spindle is positioned in the working position. If (at least in some cases) the completely wound package is not removed from the winding machine before the winding of the other wound package in the working position has been completed, the distance of the spindles has to be larger than the diameter of the completely wound packages in order to ensure that the outer surfaces of the completely wound package in the resting position and the wound package in the working position do not contact or collide. If the distance of the spindles is choosen to be smaller than the diameter of the completely wound packages, the completely wound package in the resting position necessarily has to be removed from the spindle before the winding of the wound package in the working position is completed. Otherwise, the wound packages would collide which might require a shutdown of the complete winding machine. Therefore, with regard to the distance of the two spindles, there is a conflict of objectives since                on the one hand, a minimization of the distance of the spindles is desired for minimizing the overall size of the winding machine, and        on the other hand, a large distance between the spindles is desired in order to increase the time interval for the removal of the completely wound packages for decreasing the risk of a collision of the wound packages.        
This conflict of objectives gets worse with increasing velocity of the winding process due to the effect that the increase of the velocity of the winding process reduces the time available for a removal of the completely the wound package.
GB 1 159 282 A relates to a winding machine for winding continuously fed winding material in an alternating fashion on two spindles. The spindles are arranged end to end and with a parallel orientation of their longitudinal axes. Each spindle is supported by a swingable arm. It is possible to rotate the arm about an axis having an orientation parallel to the longitudinal axes of the spindles. For winding a wound package, the swingable arm is actuated such that the spindle or the wound package, respectively, is in frictional engagement with a driving roller. When the winding of a wound package is completed, the swingable arm is swung such that the wound package is lifted from the driving roller and transferred into a removal position for removing the completely wound package. After removal of the completely wound package, the swingable arm is swung back for winding another wound package on the spindle.
In the winding machine known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,922 A, continuously fed winding material is wound in an alternating fashion on two wound packages being arranged on respective spindles. The spindles are attached to opposite ends of a rotatable arm with their longitudinal axes having a parallel orientation. For a transfer operation, the rotatable arm is rotated about its rotational axis such that a completely wound package on one of the spindles is lifted from the friction drive drum driving the wound package during the winding operation and transferred into a removal position. Concurrently, by the rotation of the rotatable arm an empty tube on the other spindle comes into contact with the friction drive drum such that the winding process on the empty tube starts. In the removal position, the completely wound package is removed from its spindle by a gripping element.
In the winding machines known DE 195 05 838 A1 and WO 2008/095982 A1, two wound packages arranged on respective spindles are wound in an alternating fashion. The spindles are arranged on a rotatable spindle carrier. By rotation of the spindle carrier the spindles can be alternately transferred into an operating position and into a resting position. In the resting position, the completely wound package is shifted off the spindle onto a doffer device. The completely wound package remains on the doffer device until it is manually or automatically removed.